Audible-signal device for lathes.



PATENTED AUG. 1.8, 1908.

H. A. STEINKAMP.

A'UDIBLE SIGNAL DEVICE FOR LATH'BS.

APPLIGATION I'ILED'JULY 15,1907. 5

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yNo. 896,419. PATENTEDAUG. 18, 1908.

4 H. A. STEINKAMP.'

AUDIBLBSIGNAL DEVICE FOR LATHES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15,1907.

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1 ZZUMW/ Jag-a HENRY A. STEINKAMP, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

AUDIBLE-SIGNAL DEVICE FOR LATI-IES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Application filed July 15, 1907. Serial No. 383,742.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY A. STEINKAMP, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Audible-Signal Devices for Lathes, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in audible signal devices for lathes and is designed more particularly for use in screw thread cutting, whereby after the ordinary screw thread cutting tool of the lathe lhas made its rst cut, an audible signal will tell the operator just when the cutting tool is to be inserted into the work in proper time to catch the thread previously partly cut.

Figure I is a front elevation of my signal device together with a portion of a lathe feed screw coperable therewith. Fig. II is a vertical section taken on the line II-II Fig. I. Fig. III is a detail section taken on the line III-III Fig. II. Fig. IV is a detail section taken on the line IV-IV Fig. II. Fig. V is a plan view of the device, on a larger scale, its cover plate being omitted, parts being shown in section, and including a portion of a lathe feed screw and a portion of a supporting means for the device. Figs.VI to X are detail vertical sections showing different positions of the vertical slides, and the radial tumblers of the device.

A re resents a portion of a lathe feed screw, my signal device in its entirety, and C (Fig. V) the supporting means for the device which latter holds the device in or out of cooperating relation with said feed screw.

1 designates a vertical shaft which has fixed thereto, preferably at its lowermost end, a pinion or spur gear 2 which is coperable with the horizontal lathe feed screw A in the nature of a worm gear. I prefer to form this pinion 2 with teeth cut parallel with the vertical shaft 1, rather than at an angle complementary to the lathe feed screw, in order that the pinion will mesh with either a right or left hand screw thread. The vertical shaft is provided with a longitudinally disposed key seat la.

3 designates a horizontally mounted cup shaped body, preferably in the form of a metallic casting, having a bottom sleeve 4 through which the vertical shaft 1 passes. This body is also provided with a laterally projecting horizontally perforated lug 5 which is designed to receive a horizontal bar c conjoined to the supporting means C, Fig. V, the body 3 being adjustably secured t0 said bar c by means of a set screw 6.

7 designates a tumbler carrying member which is fixed to the vertical shaft so as to be rotatable with and non-rotatable, but longitudinally slidable on, the vertical shaft 1 and vis designed to be located within the cup shaped body 3. The non-rotatable but longitudinally slidable feature of this tumbler carrying member 7 is produced by means of a pin 8 Fig. V, which passes through said member and enters the key seat 1aL of the shaft 1. This tumbler carrying member 7 consists of a cylindrical body portion, Which surrounds the vertical shaft 1, and has a plurality of radially disposed slotted or bifurcated arms 9, in this instance four, and, pivotally supported by each of these arms 9, and located within their slots are radial tumblers l0, 10a, 10b, and 10C. These tumblers are free to swing upwardly on their pivots. A more detailed description of these radial tumblers V and the function they perform will hereinafter be described.

y 11 designates a cover plate for the cup shaped body 3, which cover plate is practically a disk, which fits within a counter bore formed in the body 3, and is provided with a boss 11EL having a bore which receives the vertical shaft 1.

12 designates a collar which is secured to the vertical shaft 1, by means of a set screw, and is designed to rest upon the boss 11a of the cover plate 11 whereby the latter is held to its seat upon the body 3.

13 designates a lateral flange or ledge which projects from the cup shaped body 3, and upon this ledge is supported a post 14 to which is pivotally secured a spring actuated bell hammer 15.

16 designates another lateral flange or ledge, which projects from the cup shaped body 3, and which supports a post 16a, carrying a bell 17, said bell being located in juxtaposition to the free end of the bell hammer15.

v 18 designates a three-armed rockable trip which is also mounted by a post 18C upon the ledge 13 and is so located that one arm 18il thereof extends through a slot 19 in the wall of the body 3, into the path of travel of the desired, and are limited in their movement by means of a notch and pin connection, as is clearly illustrated in Fig. IV of the drawings, and are also securely held in their desired position by means of a set screw 23.

The audible signal, to be produced by this invention, is to be effected at every complete' rotation, everyone half revolution, or every one fourth revolution of the vertical shaft 1 and its carried elements which rotate therewith, depending upon the length of thread the lathe is to cut, and in order that the operator may know just when to insert the screw thread cutting tool into the thread previously cut upon the work, or in other words so that the cutting tool will enter eX- actly and follow upon its next cut the thread previously partl cut. For example if the lathe feed screw vias a pitch of four threads to the inch and it is desired tov cut a thread on a piece of work three and one half (3 inches long the slide bars 21 and 22 are both brought to a position so that an audible signal will be produced only upon one complete revolution of the verticalshaft 1, for the reason that the pinion 2 on said vertical shaft hassiXteen teeth and that, starting from a given point, which should be just after the bell has sounded, the lathe feed screw will cause the cutting tool which is cutting the thread upon the work to travel a distance of three and one half inches which means that the vertical shaft 1 will have made seven eighths of a revolution. The tool is now withdrawn from the work and brought back to a starting position which can be easily accomplished in the one eighth revolution of the vertical shaft 1 yet to follow before the bell will be again sounded, and, upon the striking of the bell the operator immediately inserts the cutting tool into the work and has caught the thread exactly, with no appreciable skill on his part. If only one and a half inches of thread, or there about, is to be cut upon the work the device will be set so that the bell will ring at every half of a revolution of the vertical shaft, or if a thread less than an inch in length is to be cut the device is so set that the bell will ring at every fourth of a revolution of the shaft.

The radial tumblers 10, and 10a, are of different shapes, and the radial tumblers 10b and 10C are of the same shape the two former 10 10a, being arranged diametrically opposite each other in the tumbler carrying member 7, and each provided respectively with a narrow notch l0d and a wide notch l()C formed in its lowermost face, the former narrow notch 10d of which is in width equal to the thickness of and in alinement with the outer slide bar 20 only while the latter wide notch 10C is in width equal to the combined thickness of and in alinement with both the outer slide bar 2() and its companion inner slide bar 21. rPhe radial tumblers 10b and 10C, which are also arranged diametrically opposite each other in the tumbler carrying member 7, have no notched under face and are identical in construction. When both of the slide bars 20 and 2l are in their lowermost position as shown in Figs; II, IV, VI and VII all of the radial tumblers will remain in a lowered position, t. e. resting upon the upper face of the bottom wall of the cup shaped body 3, and be each free to engage in their rotation, the arm 1S" of the rockable post 1S thus causing, in one complete rotation of the vertical shaft 1,

four taps of the bell 17.

l/Vhen two taps of the bell 17 are to be produced to each revolution of the main vertical shaft 1, the outer slide bar 2() is raised to its uppermost position, as shown in Figs. VIII and IX of the drawings, whereupon it will be observed that each of the radial tumblers 10b and 10C will, in their passage over the outer slide bar 20, be elevated a sufficient distance to pass over the arm 18a of the trip 1S, while the two remaining radial tumblers 10 and 10a, wil-l not be elevated, due to their narrow and wide notches 10d and 10e respectively permitting them to pass the outer slide bar 20, and contact with the arm-1Sa thus making the two taps of the bell to each revolution of the vertical shaft 1.

When only one tap of the bell to each revolution of the vertical shaft 1 is desired the inner slide bar 21 is raised to its uppermost position, the outer slide bar 20 either remaining in its elevated position or not, whereupon it will be observed from an inspection of Figs. X and XI of the drawings, that the radial tumblers 10, 10b and 10C will, in their passage over the inner slide bar 21 be elevated a su'flicient distance to pass over the arm 18EL of the trip 18 and produce no movement ofthe latter, while the remaining radial tumbler 10a will retain its lowermost position, by virtue of its wide notch 10@ permitting it to pass freely by the slide vbar 21 and causing it to contact with the arm 18L of the trip 18 and ring the bell.

I claim: l

1. In a device of the character described the combination with a support, of a rotatable element mounted upon said support, a tumbler carrying element mounted upon said rotatable element, a plurality of tumblers carried by said tumbler carrying element, an audible signal element, a hammer for said audible signal element, means coperable with saidv tumblers and said hammer for producing a-n audible signal and a slide bar for causing one of said tumblers to be carried out of a course in which it is operative upon said signal means, substantially as described.

2. ln a device of the character described the combination with a support, of a rotatable element mounted upon said support, a tumbler' carrying element mounted upon said'rotatable element, a plurality of tumblers carried by said tumbler carrying element, an audible signal element, a hammer for said audible signal element, means coperable with said tumblers and said hammer for producing an audible signal, one of said tumblers being provided with a notch, an audible signal element, means coperable with said tumbler and said hammer for producing an audible signal, a slide bar which is so located that in one position it will permit the tumbler having the notch to pass uninterruptedly by it but will carry one tumbler out of a course in which it is operative upon said signal means, substantially as described.

3. A device of the 4character described, comprising a supporting means, a shaft, a signal, means for operating the signal, a tumbler carrying member Xed to the shaft, radial tumblers carried by the' tumbler carrying member and adapted to engage the signal operating means, and an adjustable slide bar for elevating one of the tumblers to a position above the signal operating means so as to enable it to pass over the latter.

.4. A device of the character described, comprising a supporting means, a shaft, a signal, means for operating the signal, a tumbler carrying member iXed to the shaft, plain radial tumblers carried by the tumbler carrying member, arranged diametrically opposite each other and adapted to engage the signal operating means, radial tumblers having narrow and wide notches respectively, arranged diametrically opposite each other between the plain radial tumblers, and adapted to engage the signal operating means, and outer and inner adjustable slide bars for elevating the plain and the narrow notched tumblers.

HENRY A. STEINKAMP.

In presence of- J. W. WESTON, HARRY R. GATES. 

